- The National Institutes of Standards and Technology has signed an agreement with SRI International for the establishment of a Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center
- NIST will initially invest $20 million to support the center’s operations
- The agreement follows the release of two executive orders from the Trump administration to advance quantum development and security
The National Institute of Standards and Technology will collaborate with nonprofit organization SRI International to build a Quantum Manufacturing Engineering Center, NIST announced Monday.
The institute pledged an initial $20 million investment to support the operations of the facility, which is being established under an executive order on June 22 to accelerate the production of high-performance quantum technologies. The center “will bring together top experts to ensure both continued U.S. leadership in quantum technologies and that we are the epicenter of manufacturing quantum systems at scale to drive advances in sensing, communications, encryption, computing, biomedicine and other critical areas,” said Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Dabbar.
What Joint Quantum Projects Have NIST and SRI International Completed?
In 2018, NIST signed a cooperative research and development deal with SRI to create the Quantum Economic Development Consortium to foster public-private partnerships over the design and prototyping of quantum systems, and to attract more talent into the field. Four years later, NIST gave SRI a $300,000 grant to lead a study to determine the challenges and investment prospects for quantum manufacturing and supply chain. The roadmap development effort involved 30 organizations coming from industry, academia and the research community.
What Are the New Executive Orders on Quantum Advancement?
President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14409 on June 22 in response to concerns that large-scale quantum computers could be used by adversaries to decrypt sensitive data in the future. The directive mandates the accelerated migration of high-value government information systems to post-quantum cryptography by Dec. 30, 2030. Another executive order, EO 14411, calls for the revision of the current national strategy on quantum information science and technology. The directive will pave the way for the launch of the Quantum Computer for Application Development and Discovery Science initiative.
